Mean Mom Alert

While the rest of our state school districts start school today, our district has chosen to start school tomorrow. Friends that live in other districts are posting first day of school photos and sharing their excitement about the first day of the school year on Facebook, and I am faced with an angry teenage girl because I mandated that she wake up early so that she would be tired tonight and ready to pop out of bed tomorrow morning for her first day of school. I am a MEAN mom, and “You are not my friend!”

I had to remind my sulky teenage daughter that my goal has never been to be her friend; my goal has always been to prepare her to be on her own. I am running out of time to accomplish this task since this is Miss Teen Crabby Pants, senior year of high school. There have been moments in the last few weeks when I have opened her bedroom door and cringed at the mayhem and destruction. I have also come close to going insane as I have watched my daughter wait until the last minute to take care of things she should have taken care of earlier and complain about things, like not having the cereal she likes when I have asked nicely and even firmly demanded (yelled) that everyone here put what they want on my grocery list.

I am not trying to be anyone’s friend, trust me! I am trying as hard as I can to get my daughter to take responsibility for her own self and I will follow a short distance behind in case she needs me. My struggle is now I wonder if I’m the problem. What if I’m not hands off enough, or what if I am too hands on. AGH! My head is spinning with frustration, aggravation, guilt and a very strong desire to run far, far away! I have taken to just snapping at my family instead of talking. I cannot be bothered with being pleasant when I feel like an animal backed into a corner. Honestly, when my daughter declared me, mean and not her friend, I just laughed. That is what insane people do, they laugh.

The best part is that tomorrow morning I will not be here when my daughter leaves for her first day of school. I signed up for an exercise class that starts early and tomorrow is the first day. I cannot miss the first class I would have no idea what is happening, so that means I have to leave the two people in my family (my husband and daughter) that are the least likely to plan, that hate to wake up and also refuse to follow guidelines (like writing food preferences on a list) alone together and pray that all goes well. This class lasts eight weeks and I will be going twice a week. I am actually thinking this might be good for all of us. If nothing else it will be good to have two days a week where I am oblivious to how everything is accomplished in the morning. I will not worry if anyone is up, or if there is a decent lunch packed or even if my daughter is running late. I will be happily working out.

This could be a win/win for all of us. The meanest Mom in the world will be out of the way and the daughter that is determined to drive her mother insane will be on her own to figure everything out. This may end up being the smartest thing I have ever done. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go roust my daughter back out of her bed and be “mean” to her some more. The things I do just for a little fun, seriously!